Automatic take-up device for telephone connections.



No. 793,845. PATENTED JULY 4', 1905.

I F. B. LUNG AUTOMATIG TAKE UP DEVICE FOR TELEPHONE UONNBGT IONS. APPLICATION FILED 00T.15I 1904.

are Sail- Patented July 4t, 1905..

arena marten.

FRANK BENAJAH LOW OF L055 ANGELES, UALlFORNlA.

$PEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 793,845, dated July 4t, 1905.

Application filed October 15, 1904. Serial No. 228,561.

To (0 whom it may concern:

lie itknown that l, FRANK BENAJ'AII Lose, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and Improved Automatic Take-Up Device for 'lelephone Connections, of which the follow ing is a full, clear, and exact description.

'lheinvention relates to telephony; and one of the principal objects thereof is to provide means for storing the electrical connections for the receiving and. transmitting instruments of an ordinary telephone in such manner that during the time the instruments are hung up or out of use there will be no slack or loose portions of the connections hanging about the telephone.

A further object is to provide means whereby the electrical connections for the receiving and transmitting instruments of an ordinary telephone may be drawn or paid out to the length thereof required to enable the instruments to be conveniently placed to the car or month and again taken up automatically and stored after the instruments are hung up or restored to their supports.

The invention consists of novel features and parts and combinations of the same, as will be more fully described hereinafter and then pointed out in the claims.

A practical embodiment of the invention is represented in the accon'ipanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

lliigure 1 is a cross-section of the improvement. Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation of the same on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional side elevation of the contact in the drum. Fig. a isa face view, partly in section, of a portion of the flexible conducting-web; and Fig. 5 is a similar view of a modified form of the same.

()n a desk or other suitable support A is held a casing B, having in its peripheral face a slot B for the passage of a conducting web U, which may be connected at its outer end withthe receiving and transmitting instruments of a telephone, (not shown,) said conducting-web winding up and unwinding on and from a drum I), arranged within the casing H, and having its hub l) mounted to turn loosely on a shaft 1), fixed in brackets E, fastened by a screw E to the desk A or to the bottoinof the casing B. WVhen the userof the telephone pulls on the conducting-web C, the latter unwinds from the drum I), now running in one direction and winding up one or more springs F, held fastened at one end to the corresponding bracket E and at its other end to the drum-flange, so that When the user releases the pull on the web C the drum is retated by the spring or springs in an opposite direction, and consequently the web U is re wound on the drum l).

The conducting-web U is made of a non-com ducting fabric material C, in which are embeddedconductors U placed suitable distances apart and each preferably made of a plurality of line wire strands, either bunched or twisted tegetlier, as plainly shown in Figs. 4. and 5. By the use of a plurality of fine wire strands for each conductor a desirable flexibility is maintained in the web for the latter to readily Wind up and unwind on and from the drum without requiring heavy springs F and consequent undue physical exertion on the part of the user for pulling on the web with a View to extending the same to bring the receiving and transmitting instruments (not shown) in proper position relative to the ear and mouth of the user and fielding the same there during use.

The inner ends of the electric conductors C are fastened byscrcws (Jl or like fastening devices to the huh I) of the drum ll) and the said screws also engage contact-rings H, preferably in the form of split rings, each fitted in an annular recess in the bore of the hub l), each ring H being in contact with a spring contact-plate l, fitted in a recess on the peripheral face of the shaft D .lCach of the spring contact-plates .l is connected with the bare end of the corresponding insulated linewire .l, extending throiiigh a passage-way 1), formed in the fixed shaft D. As shown in the drawings, the two line-wires for the receiver pass into the corresponding passage ways D at one end of the shaft D while the line-wires for the transmitter pass into the passage-ways at the other end of the shaft, so as to keep the line-wires for the receiver and transmitter completely separate.

In practice the receiving and transmitting instruments are held on some suitable support in the immediate neighborhood of the casing B, so that the conducting-web G is wound up on the drum D. WVhen the subscriber or user of the telephone has occasion to use the telephone for its legitimate purpose, then the receiving and transmitting instruments are taken hold of by the user and moved to the ear and mouth, and in doing so a pull is exerted on the conducting-web C to unwind the same from the drum D and put the springs F under tension. \Vhen the subscriber is through using the telephone, the receiving and transmitting instruments are returned to their usual place of rest, and in doing so the conducting-web C is relieved of the pull, and hence the springs F cause the drum D to revolve in a reverse direction to rewind the conducting-web on the drum.

' By the arrangement described the conducting-web U can be readily unwound or wound up from or on the drum D without disconnecting the line-wires J from the electric conductors G embedded in the material C of the conducting-web G.

The device is very simple and durable in construction and can be cheaply manufactured and placed anywhere on a desk or other suitable support, so that when the user is through using the telephone and the web C is wound up on the drum D it is evident that no wires of any shape or form will lie loose around the desk, and hence a disagreeable tangling up of the wires-is not liable to take place. By removmg the casing D convenl ient access can be had to the working parts in case repairs or the like are necessary.

Havingthus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. An automatic take-up for telephone connections, comprising a stationary shaft having two passage-Ways leading from each end to the outer surface thereof, electrical contact-plates on the shaft across the inner extremities of the passage-ways, a spring-actuated drum having its hub rotatably mounted on the shaft, and provided with rings in its bore, having electrical contact with said contact-plates, line-wires extending through the passage-ways and connected to the contactplates, insulated electrical conductors Winding and unwinding on and from said drum, and binding-screws therefor passing through the hub and having electrical connection with said rings.

2. A take-up for telephone connections comprising a casing, a shaft fixed in the casing and having passage-ways for the linewires, spring-contacts secured on the shaft and connected with the said line-wires, adrum mounted to turn on the said shaft, contactrings secured in the bore of the drum and in contact with the said spring-contacts, a conducting-web, winding and unwinding on and from the said drum and made of an insulating material, and electric conductors embedded ii] the said material, the inner ends of the conductors being connected with the said contact-rings.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

FRANK BENAJAH LONG. \Vitnesses:

F. O. ADLER, NORMAN TURLEY. 

